Horizon 122
by The Emerald Shapeshifter
Summary: After the exile of the dragon Emarelda from the neutral place of existence, the Hyperforce tries to return to normal. Now informed of his past, Chiro journeys to Earth to find the links to his past—only to find an old enemy and a new friend. Discontinued!
1. Prologue: Prelude of Light

**Intertwine: ****Horizon ****12.2**

**A SRMTHFG Fanfiction**

* * *

After the exile of the dragon Emarelda from the neutral place of existence, the Hyperforce tries to return to normal. Now informed of his past, Chiro journeys to Earth to find the links to his past—only to find an old enemy and a new friend.

* * *

**Part ****Three ****of the ****Horizon ****Trilogy**

* * *

**Prologue: Prelude of Light**

"_**The Shones were led by the first Shadow Lord, Tnaz, millions of years ago. The Light beings and Warriors were led by the Emerald Shapeshifter—Emarelda."**_

"_Long story short, they wiped out my people, so I eliminated their leader."_

"_**Your people are not gone, Emarelda. Not in the real sense. They're locked away in mortal vessels. Fading away. Already lost for all we know. You are the last of the Light Spirits."**_

"_Like I said, Emarelda: we used to be such good friends. I doubt we'll ever get back to that."_

"…_I don't hate you."_

* * *

"And I still don't."

Silhouette started and shot awake, looking around her darkened room. She looked around, her orange eyes glowing—a sign that the power deep within her was 'turned on' and ready to be unleashed. She took a deep breath as the orange glow faded.

Though it only seemed to be a few minutes ago that she woke up, sunlight now streamed through the window to her room. She got out of bed reluctantly, putting a hand to her head to try to ease the pounding headache she had.

* * *

She stumbled half-mindedly into Gibson on her way to the main room. Silhouette stood there, rubbing her head and looking at her feet.

"Sorry Gibson…"

"It's quite alright…" Gibson leaned down to try to look the black monkey in the eye. "Are you alright? You've been rather quiet the past few days. You haven't talked to anyone since…" He trailed off as he stood straight up.

"I'm glad you're at least out of your room. I was just coming to get you. You have a visitor."

She looked up, her eyes paler than normal. "Visitor?"

* * *

Gibson stepped into the main room with Silhouette in tow. She rubbed her eyes at the light change, before arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She was caught off-guard and almost fell over.

"You've kept yourself locked up for a while; we were going to send a search party to find you," Sparx said as he hugged her gently. "Brainstrain here worked just as good, though."

Silhouette leaned into Sparx as he held on to her. "Who's the visitor?"

"That would be me," a weary voice said.

Silhouette turned to see none other than Shruikan in the middle of the main room. He approached her. His eyes, though naturally red, looked even redder than normal—bloodshot.

"What's wrong?" It had been almost six years since they last seen the old dragon; now, he looked even older than usual, as if all his years were finally catching up to him.

"The same thing that's wrong with you," Shruikan told her. "The sealing away of Emarelda had an effect I could have never predicted."

"What's that?"

Shruikan paused for a moment, as if trying to avoid answering. "Orre is dying."

Silhouette really did fall over this time, Sparx kneeling down to prevent her from doing a face-plant. "What? Why??"

"The Light Keystone is the heart of Orre, but Emarelda was the mind of the planet; she kept the whole thing running. Now, with her gone…there's no one to tell the Keystone what to do."

Silence.

"How will this affect the universe?" Antauri questioned, not realizing the direness of the situation at hand.

Shruikan looked at him with solemn eyes. "If the problem is not reversed…there won't be a universe to save."

"W-What do we have to do?" Chiro asked.

Shruikan turned to him. "The only thing you can do." He grimaced. "Find Emarelda and return her memories to her."

"No!" Silhouette yelled, startling everyone. "I won't do it. She'll go back to her old self and hurt us all again. Not again…"

"Silhouette, don't ignore the situation," Shruikan hissed, also startling everyone. "I have no other choice. I cannot interfere with the meddling of Light without the Shadow Keystone's power, which you have inside you. You, the Super Robot Monkey Team, are the only beings in the universe that can see Emarelda."

"See?" Otto asked. "You mean she's invisible?"

"The details of her arrest were not clear to you…" Shruikan groaned. "When she was sealed away, it was different from the fate of her people. Her memory was thus wiped. Not only that, but she was wiped from this plane of existence."

"Excuse me?" Gibson screeched, astonished.

"Emarelda does not exist on this plane. Her form, her mind, her spirit, her body, and her powers, exist outside of time and space—therefore she cannot harm anything, touch anything, or have any of her powers affect anything. It was the only way to prevent her from using them."

"Is that possible?" Gibson asked.

"If she were to come across you, and you were invisible…she would pass right through you. It's as if she doesn't exist, but she does. Her form would phase right through you, without her knowledge that someone was standing right in her path."

"Then how do you propose we restore her memory?" Quint asked.

"Simple. You reveal yourself to her when she is alone…" He looked to Silhouette. "And tell her your story. Tell her hers. Tell her a story." Shruikan shrugged, as if it were as simple as that. "You are the only beings I know of that can see Emarelda in her state of nothingness—the only people I know that know she exists at all."

Silence again.

"Aside from one person. The human she is bound to."

"Human?" Chiro echoed.

"Indeed."

Despite the long drawn explanations Shruikan gave them about Emarelda, he made no further effort to explain about the 'human'.

"And Chiro here also needs to reconnect with his home world; it's a double mission," Shruikan announced.

"Home world?"

"But he lives on Shuggazoom!"

"He was born here!"

"Double?"

"Explanation, please?"

"Go to Earth; the planet itself can provide better answers than I can," Shruikan said quietly. "But Chiro hails from Earth; that is why he is the Keeper of the Cybernetic Earth Cube…A.K.A the Earth Keystone."

Everyone squawked at this.

"Emarelda told you; I assume at the time you thought she was probably either kidding to alleviate the dire situation with Temhota, or lying to you to get you riled up," Silhouette said, finally speaking up. "It was neither. Sure, Emarelda jokes a lot, but never at a time as serious as that. And she NEVER lies. You may assumed she lied to us when she took me captive, but she never said she wasn't going to do anything huge after we came. She just avoided having to say it, because, to her, lying is the vilest thing a person can do. Her sense of guilt is huge when it comes to her lying."

She looked to Chiro. "Chiro is the rightful Keeper of the Earth Keystone; which is the ONLY reason he's the Chosen One of the Power Primate."

She turned to Shruikan. "How long do we have?"

"On an estimated time frame…seven weeks, at the most."

Silhouette sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She looked to the others.

"Let's go to Earth."

* * *

_I LIED._

_I decided to challenge myself and try to finish this story. Sorry for lying, but I changed my mind!_

_LOL_

_So, thanks for reading! If I don't update, don't pester me to. I have my reasons, doggonit. XD_

_~ES_

_PS: If you're a Kingdom Hearts fan, read my KH fanfics, and watch my YouTube videos (link on my profile here)!_


	2. Learning Latin

**Intertwine: Horizon 12.2**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Learning Latin**

"I didn't think you'd go along with this so easily," Sparx commented.

"Along with what?" Silhouette asked, as she fixed up her room for the journey.

"Going to Earth. I thought you hated Emma."

"I do…but this is for the universe's welfare. Once this is all over, and Emarelda restores Orre, I'll make her pay for all the wrong she's done."

Sparx eyed his girlfriend; never before had he seen her act with this much malice. "Silhouette, wasn't that the point of sealing her away?"

"Not if she still has the only say on whether the universe survives." Silhouette sighed, holding her head. "Headache."

Sparx wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "C'mon. Something's bothering you that has to do with Emarelda. Maybe you just can't forgive her?"

"How could you say that?"

"Maybe 'cause it's true?"

"You remind me of Emma, the way you're acting. She knew everything."

Sparx just chuckled, touching his nose to hers.

She grinned and stepped away, resuming tidying up her room. "So," Sparx said causally. "What're you gonna do if we find Emma?"

Silhouette rolled her eyes, grinning more. "Big 'if' there. I'm not sure. Try to get her to restore Orre to what it was; if not…an element has to go."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Emarelda _will_ cooperate. I just…" She balled her hand into a fist and held it in front of her, "I don't…know…"

Sparx watched her, knowing of the inner turmoil she was facing. She couldn't decide whether to forgive Emarelda for all she did to them…

Or kill the green dragon on the spot, now that she was powerless and vulnerable.

He approached her carefully, and grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.

"You'll make the right choice, Silhouette. I know you will. You're you."

Silhouette smiled brightly. "Thanks Sparx."

* * *

"Before you go, Chiro, I recommend you study this book," Shruikan told the boy, handing him a rather thick book.

Chiro looked at the title, but he could not read it. "What does that say?"

"You already know how to speak English, the language of the country you'll be going to. The title says, 'Latin'."

"Latin?" Chiro echoed. "What's that?"

"Each world that focuses on the elements has its own Ancient Tongue; the language spoken by all in times already past. Latin, on Earth, is the root language for every language spoken on the planet. You already know Amere's Ancient Tongue: Akin."

"Oh, I get it now!" Chiro nodded.

"You need to repair the ties to your home world, Chiro," Shruikan said. "Earth is where you were born; and therefore, you must learn all its secrets."

"'Kay," Chiro said simply.

"Since you are the Keeper of the Earth Keystone, if you read that book, you should be able to fluently speak it by the time you land. A friend will be there to help you master your power over the Keystone."

Chiro nodded, opening the book. Shruikan nodded and walked off. By the time he left the room, Chiro has completely memorized the first page.

* * *

"Otto, how's that new project coming along?" Gibson inquired, approaching the green monkey, who was tinkering with some circuits under the Super Robot's main computer console.

"It's actually almost done!" Otto said cheerfully. He showed Gibson a small, thin plate. "Shruikan helped me with the starting prototype; he said since Emma exists in a dimension outside time and space, we need to have a device that allows us to do the same. So we made this; we even have ten others so everyone else can fight if we need to."

"Very impressive Otto."

"And it's nothing complex; touch the center of it to turn it on, touch it again to turn it off."

"Very nice."

"Here's yours!" Otto suddenly said, slamming something onto Gibson's chest, gaining an 'Oof!' from the blue monkey.

"What in the world—" Gibson looked down to his chest to see a plain white disk on it, curving for a nice fit.

"There's also an invisibility setting," Otto said proudly. He touched his finger to the side of the device, spinning his finger around slowly until it was on the other side of the disk. As he did this Gibson's form slowly vanished.

"And it's got a nice power source; it should work for a few weeks. And it functions perfectly without the big, bulky equipment normally needed to do the job—Gibson?" Otto stopped talking. "Gibson, you still here?"

Silence.

"Gibson?"

Silence.

"This isn't funny."

No response.

"Well, I'm gonna keep working on the Super Robot's Demi-Disk. Bye; if you're still here."

Gibson just smiled and walked off.

* * *

"Are we ready for takeoff, Chiro?" Antauri approached the boy.

"I'm waiting from reports from Silhouette and Shruikan," was his answer. "They're sort of the whole acting force behind this journey; I need to know if I should change anything."

"Good idea," Antauri said, nodding.

Suddenly, the Robot began to shake—not violently, but enough to get their attention.

"Silhouette's back!" Nova ran in.

All three ran outside to where Silhouette had landed. She was brushing dust off herself, and she turned to them.

"Where'd you go?" Chiro asked.

"Orre."

"Did it look different?" Nova asked.

Silhouette nodded. "I couldn't land there. The planet is just a huge, smoldering ball of lava. If I hadn't known any better, I would've thought I was in Infuego."

"Infuego?" Chiro echoed.

Silhouette nodded. "The world is nothing but lava." She looked up. "Orre really _is_ dying."

She regained her posture and announced, "C'mon, let's get going. We don't have a lot of time."

She walked towards the Super Robot, and when her back was to everyone, here eyes began to glow as she clenched her fists. "And Emarelda will pay for every moment of _hell_ she's dished out at me."

* * *

Wow, what Silhouette just said is exactly how I feel about my dad.

And, WOW. I just came back from the dead, and I expected more reviews! Did I die in your hearts, too? :(


	3. Blessed Earth

**Intertwine: Horizon 12.2**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Blessed Earth**

"What will you do when we're gone, Shruikan?" Silhouette asked her old teacher.

"I might stay here and keep your home world safe while you are gone," he said thoughtfully.

"And when we come back…?"

"I'm old," he said. "Far too old."

He left her question unanswered, so to seem, but his answer hung in the air for only Antauri to understand.

"So, I guess it's time to go. Are we all ready?" the silver monkey asked, looking around.

Murmurs of 'Yes' and 'Yup' silently filled the room. Antauri nodded.

"Everyone to your positions!" Chiro announced.

Everyone ran up their tubes, while Silhouette and her brothers remained in the control room, sitting in the chairs in the middle. Silhouette crossed her arms and leaned back. Then, she sat forward.

"Shruikan, what do we do with Emarelda after this?"

No answer. He was gone.

"Shruikan?"

_Silhouette, you're not helpless. Emarelda gave you the ability to think for yourself, without someone to do it for you. I won't be around forever to give you advice, and I've taught you everything I know. There's no reason for me to exist anymore. It all falls to you, my young pupil. You decide what you must do when you confront Emarelda._

Silhouette felt like she was about to cry. All her life she had known Shruikan; he had been a great teacher and a great friend. Life without him would be so different. He always gave great advice.

_**Carry my blessing with you.**_

The Super Robot lurched as it took off, and she leaned back. It would take at least a day to get to Earth if they flew without interruption; if they had to stop a few times it would take a few days. Hopefully there would be no pit stops.

* * *

Chiro became curious. "What can the Earth Keystone do, exactly?"

"Well…" Silhouette said thoughtfully. "It can control the element Earth, like rocks, sand, dirt, and it can also control plants, since plants come from the ground, naturally. If you're on the planet Earth, however…it can completely control anything. Since everything on Earth came from the planet itself, the Keystone gives you ultimate control over anything—computers, birds, cars, houses, _anything_."

"Same with the Shadow Keystone?"

She blinked. "Well, yes, but it can control the element Shadow and anything on Amere, or its two moons. And any shadow being on it."

"I do have one question that would benefit us all if we knew the answer," Antauri asked, coming up to them. "If Emarelda tried, how would she get the Earth Keystone? Or your Shadow Keystone?"

Silhouette sighed. "We'd either have to give them up willingly…or a stab through the heart with a special kind of weapon would work."

"What kind of weapon?"

"A Heart-Taker."

"Sounds like a bad Valentine's Day, if you ask me," Sparx said, snickering.

"The heart is the body's power source," Silhouette explained. "Without it, you would be dead."

"We're approaching the Earthen Solar System!" Gibson called from the helm.

Everyone ran to the helm, to see the outer belt of asteroids of the solar system Earth was in. They passed all the planets, like a shopper passing different isles of food, before coming upon Earth's moon.

"I'll scan the planet for any major energy sources," Gibson announced. "Even if Emarelda can hide, I should be able to find her energy."

After five minutes…nothing came up.

"Hm?" Gibson asked simply.

"Surprise, surprise," Silhouette said. "Let _me_ try."

She closed her eyes and concentrated, pressing the little button on the Demi-Disk Otto gave her…

_

* * *

_

_Darkness. That's what she saw. She tried to use her power over the element to make the darkness recede, but to no avail._

_Someone had taken the light._

_She heard screams. Explosions. The non-existent ground shaking._

What are you?

_She blinked at the voice. But she could see nothing._

"_I am Silhouette, Wielder of the Shadow Keystone."_

_The voice was silent._ We do not understand you.

"_W-What?"_

We're sorry, but we don't understand you. Are you trying to speak to us? Because we see your lips moving, but no voice.

"_Excuse me?" Silhouette asked._

There you go again. Come now, little shadow. Speak truly and without indifference. We will not hurt you.

_Silhouette sighed and took a deep breath._

Predictable response. Deep breaths won't help. You need to keep it all inside until you know what you will say. Until then, we can't hear you.

_Silhouette looked up and glared. "Why do you say 'We'?"_

There you go. We can hear you now. 'We' you say? Why? There's two of us.

"_Emarelda."_

_The voice growled and became angry. _What are you?

"_I am Silhouette, Courier of Shadow."_

Courier, eh? Making yourself sound all high and mighty when, in reality, you're really a small no one who wants to make herself seem better than she already is. By the sound of your voice, you want to best an enemy. Who is it?

"_You."_

_The blackness suddenly retreated, and Silhouette found herself in the clouds—where a shadow should not be. Shadows cannot fly. She reached out her hand and could almost feel the clouds._

We do not know you. Do not pin your petty fears and false ambitions on us. We do not want anything to do with you. Goodbye.

_And she fell._

* * *

When Silhouette came to, she found grass between her fingers, a rock against her cheek, and water on her tail. Obviously, none of those could be found in space.

She jolted awake, to find herself on Earth. She recognized it—blue sky, white clouds, green grass, sparkling water. No other planet she had been to was this beautiful.

Or this close to dying.

On the horizon, she could see the smog-covered city of New York. It was morning-going-on-afternoon, but the haze remained. She could even hear the noise of the city.

And she was low on power. Just a bit. Damn Emarelda for not building her with a solar panel for use in emergencies. But she saw this as a challenge, something—though she regretted referring to herself as a machine—that was programmed into her to never give up unless it really was hopeless; hopeless as in any god there was could not change it, no spirit could alter it, time could not erase. This was a challenge she could overcome, and she could find that stubborn dragon and force her to help.

* * *

"Where'd she go?!" Sparx asked, surprised as Silhouette just flickered away before his eyes.

"She spoke with Emarelda," Antauri said wisely. He hummed in thought. "Emarelda, bluntly, yanked Silhouette to Earth."

* * *

Come ON! I was reincarnated! I returned from the dead. Acknowledge me!

Just kidding.

Pointers: YES. Shruikan died. Peacefully. :P

Yes, this takes place on Earth.

And...YES! Emarelda is back, and ten times more powerful over the time I was gone.


	4. Solar

**Intertwine: Horizon 12.2**

* * *

**Chapter Four: Solar**

"Invisibility, invisibility…how the hell does this thing work?"

Silhouette was messing with the disk Otto made for her. For being a machine, she was not good with machines she had never seen in action. She fiddled with it for a few minutes before giving up.

"Ugh. Otto had his on his chest…maybe it only works attached to me."

So she clipped it onto her chest, and she felt it vibrate, and she immediately became invisible.

"Awesome!" Then, she began talking to herself, to formulate a plan. "Okay so…the nearest city, I can't _guarantee_ Emarelda is even there. And I can't fly back to the Super Robot without my energy signal being detected…"

She felt lost. With Emarelda nonexistent in the plane Silhouette did, it was impossible to sense the green spirit.

_Follow to where you feel is right,_ said spirit's voice said. _Follow the light._

The light?

Silhouette was puzzled. The only source of light out now was the Sun. The star known far and wide in the galaxy as Sola, Prince of Life.

Sola.

She looked up to the bright star, her eyes squinting. Since the Earth spun, the star seemed to move in the planet's sky.

Rises in the east, sets in the west.

By the position of the star, it was after noon. She followed the suggestion and walked to the west.

* * *

She walked through the night. She walked through noon again and through the night again. By the beginning of the third day, she couldn't walk. She sat down in the spot she had stood in, which happened to be…

A forest glade. It reminded her of how much Emarelda loved forests. It was odd saying it, but when Emarelda was in a forest, she seemed a million years younger (A/N: And remember how Emma is, like, billions of years old because she's immortal. She's still younger than Shruikan. Shadow existed before light.) She would talk nonstop to the forest animals of Orre whenever she was out teaching Silhouette, just after her creation.

Unbidden, Silhouette whispered, "What have I done?"

She heard a rustle in the trees above her. Programmed into her brain was an intense paranoia, so she looked up. "Oh. Just squirrels."

Then, there was another rustle through the bush. She peered through to see a girl standing on a large rock, with her back turned. The girl had an unnatural glow to her. Silhouette dove out of her hiding spot and tackled the girl, saying, "Gotcha!"

"Ow! Silhouette?"

It was then she realized who she had tackled. "Chiro?"

"Oww, my head," Chiro moaned, rubbing his head and grimacing. "Wha—? Silhouette?"

"Chiro! I'm so glad I found you!"

"Figured I'd find you here…" Chiro muttered, looking at the trees. "They kept pointing this way."

"Huh?"

Chiro pointed at the trees. The wind was blowing the branches down, so they looked eerily like fingers, pointing at Silhouette. She shivered.

"Well, you do have the Earth Keystone…" she muttered. He helped her to her feet.

"They can definitely find Emarelda," Chiro said with confidence. He gazed to the trees, and the wind blew them so they pointed toward the now setting sun. They seemed to rustle for emphasis.

"West it is," Chiro said, nodding. As he walked off, Silhouette followed.

"What about the others?" she asked.

"They're staying far from Earth so the Earth humans can't detect them," Chiro explained. "I used the Power Primate to teleport me here."

"I could've come to get you," Silhouette protested, knowing very well that was a lie.

Chiro just shook his head and grinned.

The continued to walk in silence. The woods never seemed to end, but luckily they didn't stumble across anyone, so they wouldn't get any weird looks because Chiro was talking to nothing.

"Hey, Silhouette?" Chiro asked, breaking the silence.

"Hm?"

"Why do I live on Shuggazoom? If I really am from Earth, why don't I live here?"

Silhouette sighed. "Greed. Lust for power. No offense to them, but the humans on Earth could not control the power you wield. And none would remain sane knowing it existed. They're drawn to immense power like moths are drawn to light—they think it's a soothing glow, and then it burns them."

"That doesn't answer my question…"

"The Elemental Spirits spirited the Earth Keystone Guardian—you—to Shuggazoom when you were young, so no one on Earth could use that power for their own gain. It was to protect you."

Chiro paused, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "You had a say in that, didn't you?"

"No. Shruikan did, and so did Emarelda. Shruikan was the greatest of the Shadow Spirits, and Emarelda was the last of the Light Spirits. Of course they'd have a say in what happened to the Earth Keystone."

"You don't trust me to do the right thing with this power?"

"I do…now. When they sent you Shuggazoom, you were just a baby."

"Oh…so, what happened to Emma?"

"I don't know," Silhouette admitted. "We did the same thing to her that we did to her people, but she's stronger. Soon her power will come back, I'm sure of it. Hopefully then, she'll be calmer and kinder… But you never know, right? Heh…"

"What's wrong with you?" Chiro asked, looking down at her as they started walking along a road. "You're never this senile."

Silhouette glared forward. "I'm not senile. I'm only doing this for the sake of the universe."

"All this magic stuff goes so deep," Chiro observed. "With you, it's the universe or a much larger planet that's in danger."

"Yeah…" Silhouette said wistfully.

Suddenly, a white, box like vehicle revved past them on the road, red lights flashing and a word they couldn't read on the hood of it¹. It zoomed into the city ahead of them, followed by black cars with flashing blue lights—police cars.

"An ambulance!" Silhouette said, a worried look in her large eyes.

"A what?" Chiro asked, confused.

"An ambulance takes people who are seriously hurt or injured to the hospital, where they are treated," Silhouette explained. "And, judging by the speed of that ambulance, there's no one in it."

"But there's gonna be…" Chiro finished. He started running. "C'mon!"

* * *

1—on ambulances, they have the word 'ambulance' on the front of them, but mirrored, so if you see one behind you out of one of your mirrors, you can read what's on the front and realize it's an ambulance.

Sorry for the short chapter! I'll try to make them longer...


	5. Reality

**I****n****t****e****r****t****w****i****n****e****: ****H****o****r****i****z****o****n****1****2****.****2**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Reality**

They ran. People were running with them, so Chiro had to grab Silhouette's hand so she wouldn't get lost—she was invisible, but tangible.

They stopped at a pretty tall building…that was on fire. They could hear people screaming and policemen saying "Stay back!" and the fire crackling as it did the only thing it could do—destroy.

All of the firemen were busy trying to put out the fire, and every police officer was busy pushing the crowd of onlookers back, so no one noticed the little girl in one of the windows of the fifth floor. She was definitely scared, so she did the only thing she could do—jump. She just didn't know that she had to fall four floors.

Silhouette shrieked and jumped over the police barricade, but no one noticed. Everyone just looked at Chiro, who they thought was the one who screamed like a girl.

"Heh…heh," Chiro laughed sheepishly.

Silhouette just ran to try to catch the little girl. But as she extended her arms and the girl was nearly in her grasp—

Everything changed.

Without so must as a pop, all the sounds of the fire, the police, and the ambulance vanished. All Silhouette could hear was the sounds of birds and cars humming down the street. There was no Earth-bound little girl anymore, no fire, no _nothing_. The building was fully repaired, as if it had never been on fire. Water wasn't flooding the ground from the hoses the firemen used.

Nothing.

In the blink of an eye, reality changed. There was no more fire.

And the air shimmered with an unusual force of energy.

"Chiro!" Silhouette called. The Chosen One was nowhere to be found. "Chiro!"

"I'm over here!"

She turned to see Chiro at the side of a sidewalk, next to a sign that said 'Bus Stop'. She ran over, and he looked around, confused.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "There was a fire…and then there wasn't. And I was all the way on the other side of that park." He motioned with his thumb at the city park behind him.

Silhouette shook her head. "I don't know either."

Suddenly, Chiro froze. "Look!!"

He pointed to the sky. Silhouette followed his finger to see a bird in the sky. A green bird. A green bird with scales.

Silhouette clenched her fist. "Found you."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

They followed the supposed dragon as it flew high above the city. It did loops and corkscrews and dives, and after a while, Silhouette could smell the saltiness that signaled seawater—they were close to the ocean.

The 'bird' finally dove down at the ocean came into view. It splashed into the ocean, and then jumped out and landed on the sand as Silhouette and Chiro's feet first felt the water. They turned around, and Silhouette gasped.

It was Emarelda…and she was…small.

Not terribly small, but smaller than Silhouette's dragon form, which was saying something. She looked exactly the same as the last time Chiro had seen her, he noted, only smaller.

And…she was smiling.

She turned around, her whole body twisting. "Hello!" she said cheerfully. "What's your name?"

"C-Chiro…" he answered slowly.

Emarelda blinked and seemed to grow a bit bigger. "You can see me? Yay! No one's ever been able to see me!" She grabbed his hand slowly and, realizing she could hold it, shook it up and down. "I'm Emarelda! But you can call me Emma!" She turned to Silhouette. "And who's this? A monkey?"

"I'm Silhouette," Silhouette greeted, taken aback by Emarelda's attitude. "How did you end up here, Emma?"

Emarelda's smile widened. "I've lived here for pretty much all my life. I love the ocean. Every day I come here to swim in the water. Too bad no one can see me to cheer me on. I love the sound of people cheering."

Silhouette noted that she said 'people' instead of 'humans'.

"Why do you like it?" Chiro asked, realizing Emarelda was acting vaguely like a little kid.

"I don't know. I guess it's because people who cheer are always so kind to cheer someone on. I like it when people are nice."

Before Silhouette could say, 'Emma, cut the act', she realized why her former dragon friend was acting like this.

The curse. The curse that was placed on the dragon. It would bind her to a human and make her lose her memory. The human Emarelda was bound to was probably seven or eight, which is why Emarelda was acting so. Her mind, ultimately, wasn't hers anymore.

Or was it? "Oo, can you two use magic?"

Chiro was startled. "How did you know we could use magic?"

Emarelda shrugged. "You just look like someone who would use magic. Oh! Put this on!" In her hand was suddenly a wizard's pointed hat, and she set it on his head.

He smiled genuinely. "Thanks, Emma, but I'm no wizard. Wizards draw magic from people and things. I was born with magic."

Silhouette harshly nudged him beneath the ribs, and he winced, rubbing his side.

"Hey, Emarelda, would you like to go on a journey with us?" Chiro asked politely, for the first time, testing out his Latin skills. "We're trying to get to the highest place on the planet. For magical epicenter purposes. Do you know where that is?"

Emarelda blinked. "Mount Everest. Trying to get to the Temple of the Earth Keystone, eh?"

Silhouette nearly had a heart attack. _How did she remember?_

"How'd you know that?" Chiro asked, reverting to English.

"Know what?" Emarelda asked. "That Mount Everest is the highest point on the planet? Silly! Everyone knows that!" She giggled like a little girl. "Can I come with you?"

Before Chiro could speak, Silhouette said, "Well…"

Taking that as a 'No', the green dragon started _crying_. "Please? I'll be really good! I can fly you and it won't take long! _Please_?"

For some reason, the sound and sight of Emarelda—the most powerful being in the universe, the _One Who Never Wavered_, the one who could kill without mercy, without thought—crying and begging and reduced to nothing more than a shadow of her former self, something in Silhouette's metallic heart softened. The poor dragon was bawling and tears were running down her snout to land on the sand.

"Why do you want to come with?" Silhouette asked softly.

Emarelda sniffled. "I…don't know. I've been stuck in one place too long? Every time I try to fly further away from here, I find myself suddenly back here… If I go with someone, I don't think it'll happen… _Please_?"

Emarelda wanted freedom. The day Emarelda ever admitted that was the day Silhouette would jump into the deepest waters and actually enjoy it. The last person in the universe who wanted to be free was Emma—she was (used to be) the freest being Silhouette knew.

"Okay, okay, fine!" Silhouette finally gave in. "But you have to do exactly what I say, when I say it. In other words: Follow my every order."

Emarelda brightened and saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

Silhouette smiled. "Because, no matter how much I hate it…"

_We need you, Emma._

* * *

_Raise your hand if you have an imaginary friend!!! -raises hand-_

_I won't deny it. Emma's my BFF. :D_

_Raise your hand if you think Emma acts cute in this chapter! *raises hand*_


	6. Preperations

**Chapter Six: Preparation**

"Okay, Chiro, unless we completely need her help, refrain from speaking Latin," Silhouette told Chiro. "It awakens her old self for a little while, and we can't have that."

"Alright," Chiro agreed, nodding. "But is she really coming with us?"

"She'll be flying us," Silhouette explained. "I can't fly; I use up too much power, and it can be detected. You can turn invisible while Emarelda is flying. That way no one will see us."

Chiro looked unsure. "Alright. I trust you." He turned to Emarelda, who wasn't listening. She was on her belly in the sand on the beach, looking at a hermit crab. He saw as she reached out to pick it up, but her hand (claws?) went right through the shell. She stopped and turned around. "Why is it she can't pick stuff up, but she can still land on the ground, fly, and swim?" he asked.

Silhouette looked at Emarelda. "The land, the air, and the ground are omnipresent. They're everywhere. And Air, Water, and Earth are elements. There's no getting around that fact. Well, maybe a bit with the water. She doesn't need to breathe underwater."

"Ah." He turned to Emarelda, who was sitting on the shore now, staring down at a jellyfish who had been forced ashore. "What's wrong, Emma?"

"I can't touch him," she answered, pointing to the jellyfish. "I want to throw him back in the ocean."

"Here, let me," Silhouette said. She picked put the jellyfish and threw it back into the ocean.

Emarelda clapped her hands and hugged Silhouette. "Thanks!"

Silhouette gasped for air. "You're welcome, you're welcome! Let me go!"

"Okey-dokey!" Emarelda gushed, releasing her and scampering down the beach.

Chiro walked up beside Silhouette, looking after the green dragon who couldn't even leave footprints in the sand. "I think you went a bit too far, Silhouette."

Silhouette looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"With the punishment. Cursing her like this. You said she'd regain her memory, and once that happens, she'll have even more reason to want to kill you."

"But she won't. She won't have her powers."

"What about the human she's bound to? Do they have powers?"

"It's a human. The only reason we bound her to a human was because she hates them."

"Not to sound like a downer, but once she gains her memory back, she'll kill the human."

"Then she'll die. We prepared for this," Silhouette finalized, crossing her arms, knowing the argument was done.

But Chiro wasn't finished. "Then she'll control the human. Just like an ornament. Hanging around but without any use."

Well.

Silhouette could not deny that that would be something Emarelda would do. Stooping low to control a human that had no say in what happened. Emarelda was too powerful, even now. So much power, itching to burst out.

"Come _on_ slowpokes!" Emarelda urged them. She was suddenly behind them, pushing them.

"Ah! Alright, alright, Emma, stop pushing!" Silhouette said, edging away from Emarelda's huge claws. The dragon's whole hand could wrap easily around her torso.

"Okay," Emarelda said cheerfully. She turned around, and said, "Follow me!" before curling into a ball and rolling off. No imprint was left in the sand.

Chiro leaned to Silhouette and whispered, "How can she see where she's going?"

"She can't. It's not like she'll roll into cars or crash into people."

* * *

The animals on Orre were blissfully unaware of what was happening.

It wasn't until a huge crack appeared, and a blood-red light shone out that they freaked. The crack ran through the ground before finally stopping.

But they knew what was happening. Each and every living creature ran for the haven of their Orrean ark - a castle located on a sloping hill.

* * *

"Emarelda, these are all beach stores! They don't have any traveling stuff!" Silhouette scolded.

"Well, sorry I built these," Emarelda said sarcastically. "You know, I happen to like beach stores. They're fun!"

Silhouette was exhausted. Trying to control Emarelda was like trying to control a six-year-old. A giant, green, scaled six-year-old with infinite magic powers, weighed almost a ton, and could fly.

So you see the dilemma.

Emarelda suddenly froze and looked blankly into the distance. Silhouette looked up in concern, and asked, "Emma? You okay?"

Emarelda suddenly let out a loud roar, one that could've probably been heard around the world if for the fact that she didn't 'exist' alongside humans.

"HEADACHE!!!!" the dragon yelled, holding her head.

Silhouette looked on as Chiro attempted to calm Emarelda down, which was hard to do because she was walking around on her hind legs - being pretty intimidating at near eleven feet tall - and moaning and complaining about the pounding in her skull. Even cursed and trapped on Earth, Emarelda still - apparently - suffered from intense headaches. Silhouette remembered this quirk from her first few years after she was built. Emarelda, every once in a while, would go out of control and destroy stuff until she either came to her senses or someone knocked her out…which was hard to do.

Chiro had finally managed to get Emarelda to calm down, and when he did, she stood on all fours again, with her head hanging limply. She did not speak.

"You alright?" Chiro asked her.

"It feels like…my head and heart are cracking open," was her reply.

Chiro cast a worried glance to Silhouette, who mouthed 'Orre'. He then nodded.

* * *

They had finally gotten everything together (mostly stuff for Chiro to eat) and headed out at night.

Emarelda would take on the form of a smaller version of herself, barely as tall as Silhouette, and hover around them. She didn't talk, make a sound, or even breathe or blink - she just hovered next to Chiro as if pulled along by an unseen force.

After hours and hours of walking, Chiro's legs finally gave out. Emarelda wordlessly picked him and Silhouette up, put them on her back, and took off silently. She flew faster than Silhouette remembered, but her wings didn't make any sounds.

* * *

It was hours later that Emarelda finally fell asleep, drifting to a slow landing in the ocean. While she slept, Chiro and Silhouette talked.

"So, why are we going to Mount Everest?" Chiro asked.

"One, you need to go through the temple inside the mountain, and two, once we get to the top, we can use the Earth Keystone like a key to unlock Emma's heart, and temporarily return her memories, so she can fix Orre," Silhouette said.

"Wait, what temple?"

"There's an earth temple inside the mountain. Each Keystone guardian must prove themselves by going through the temple of the element that they guard the keystone of. I had to go through the Abyss Temple, on Amere, and that was not fun."

Chiro's eyes got huge. "What's in Earth's temple?"

"Bottomless chasms, ancient animals, rock falls, and other stuff like that," Silhouette said, shrugging. "But since you haven't been to the Earth Shrine where the true Keystone is, we'll have to go through the temple first."

* * *

_Hey, this chapter SUCKED! Writer's block killed me._

_Soooo, my birthday's coming up. July 6. :D Be nice, get me a present. JK JK_

_But I could REAALLLLYYYY use a blank robot monkey picture done in paint; you know, so I can color it in and make it look like my OCs? PLEASE? _


End file.
